Evans Road west gets a new name

Evans Road, west of U.S. Highway 24-40, will be renamed Washington Street to help eliminate confusion about addresses.

Addresses for residents along Evans Road soon will include new numbers, as well as a new street name.

City council members unanimously agreed Monday night to the name change.

The renaming will be effective after publication in The Mirror.

Council member Kathy Graveman inquired about changing Washington Street to Evans Street instead of the other way around. Ray Usher, another council member, agreed.

"It makes more sense to me," he said.

But, Mayor John Franiuk said that Washington Street helps denote that it is a street in Tonganoxie city limits. In the county, Washington Street is called Evans Road. With either option, Eppley said, addresses would have to be changed.

"The decision was made to keep the delineation between the city and the county," Eppley said.

Claudia Langston, who lives on Evans Road, told council members she supported the name change.

Tom Usher wrote a letter to the council opposing the change. Debbie Usher said that ever since she and her husband moved to Evans Road, they have had problems with confusion over their address.

"It has always been confusing," she said. "They are just going to confuse everybody more by what they are doing."

Tom Usher said that the council did not consider the pain and discomfort it will cause to residents having to change their addresses. His suggestion to eliminate confusion for the police, fire department and emergency services is to "educate" them the streets in the city.

Another local resident told council members Monday night that she was frustrated by the similarity in two streets in her northeast Tonganoxie neighborhood.

Linnie Herrmann, Tonganoxie resident, said people consistently confuse Village Street Terrace and Village Street. Herrmann suggested that Village Street Terrace be changed to simply Village Terrace. Eppley said the street sign had actually been changed to try to eliminate confusion but had not helped.